Validating user control over contact information in a domain name registration database

ABSTRACT

An example embodiment of a method and system of validating a user&#39;s control over contact information may comprise at least one server computer receiving contact information for a user and determining whether the contact information for the user is valid. If the contact information for the user is determined to be valid, the server computer(s) may store the contact information in a registered contacts database, monitor a plurality of record updates, including a request to register a domain name, in a domain name registration database for the contact information and determine whether the contact information appears in the record updates. If the contact information is determined to appear in the record updates, the server computer(s) may notify the user that the contact information appears in the record updates. In some embodiments, the registration of the domain name may be declined if the information matches.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/616,570 entitled “VALIDATING USER CONTROL OVERCONTACT INFORMATION IN A DOMAIN NAME REGISTRATION DATABASE” and filed onSep. 14, 2012.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present inventions generally relate to domain names and, moreparticularly, methods and systems for validating a user's control overcontact information stored in a domain name registration database.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An example embodiment of a method of validating a user's control overcontact information may comprise at least one server computer receivingcontact information for a user and determining whether the contactinformation for the user is valid. If the contact information for theuser is determined to be valid, the server computer(s) may store thecontact information in a registered contacts database, monitor aplurality of record updates in a domain name registration database forthe contact information and determine whether the contact informationappears in the record updates. If the contact information is determinedto appear in the record updates, the server computer(s) may notify theuser that the contact information appears in the record updates. Theserver computer(s), registered contacts database and domain nameregistration database may all be communicatively coupled to a network.

Another example embodiment of a method of validating a user's controlover contact information may comprise the at least one server computerreceiving a request to register a domain name to a prospectiveregistrant and determining whether a prospective registrant contactinformation, included with the request, matches a contact informationfor a user stored in a registered contacts database and determined to bevalid. If the prospective registrant contact information is determinedto match the contact information for the user stored in the registeredcontacts database, the server computer(s) may notify the user that theprospective registrant contact information matches the contactinformation for the user stored in the registered contacts database ordecline to register the domain name to the prospective registrant.

An example embodiment of a system for validating a user's control overcontact information may comprise one or more server computers, aregistered contacts database running on the server(s) and a domain nameregistration database, all communicatively coupled to a network. Theserver computer may be configured to receive contact information for auser and determine whether the contact information for the user isvalid. If the contact information for the user is determined to bevalid, the server computer may store the contact information in theregistered contacts database, monitor a plurality of record updates inthe domain name registration database for the contact information anddetermine whether the contact information appears in the record updates.If the contact information is determined to appear in the recordupdates, the user may be notified that the contact information appearsin the record updates.

Another example embodiment of a system for validating a user's controlover contact information may comprise the server computer and/or one ormore additional server computers communicatively coupled to a networkand running the registered contacts database. The registered contactsdatabase may store contact information, determined to be valid, for eachof a plurality of users. The server(s) may be further configured toreceive a request to register a domain name to a prospective registrantand determine whether prospective registrant contact information,included with the request, matches contact information for a user storedin a registered contacts database and determined to be valid. If theprospective registrant contact information is determined to match thecontact information for the user stored in the registered contactsdatabase, the server(s) may be configured to notify the user that theprospective registrant contact information matches the contactinformation for the user stored in the registered contacts database orto decline to register the domain name to the prospective registrant.

The above features and advantages of the present inventions will bebetter understood from the following detailed description taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a flow diagram illustrating a possible embodiment of a methodof validating a user's control over contact information stored in adomain name registration database.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating a possible embodiment of a methodof validating a user's control over contact information stored in adomain name registration database.

FIG. 3 illustrates a possible embodiment of a system for validating auser's control over contact information stored in a domain nameregistration database.

FIG. 4 illustrates a possible embodiment of a system for validating auser's control over contact information stored in a domain nameregistration database.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present inventions will now be discussed in detail with regard tothe attached drawing figures, which were briefly described above. In thefollowing description, numerous specific details are set forthillustrating the Applicant's best mode for practicing the inventions andenabling one of ordinary skill in the art to make and use theinventions. It will be obvious, however, to one skilled in the art thatthe present inventions may be practiced without many of these specificdetails. In other instances, well-known machines, structures, and methodsteps have not been described in particular detail in order to avoidunnecessarily obscuring the present inventions. Unless otherwiseindicated, like parts and method steps are referred to with likereference numerals.

A network is a collection of links and nodes (e.g., multiple computersand/or other devices connected together) arranged so that informationmay be passed from one part of the network to another over multiplelinks and through various nodes. Examples of networks include theInternet, the public switched telephone network, the global Telexnetwork, computer networks (e.g., an intranet, an extranet, a local-areanetwork, or a wide-area network), wired networks, and wireless networks.

The Internet is a worldwide network of computers and computer networksarranged to allow the easy and robust exchange of information betweencomputer users. Hundreds of millions of people around the world haveaccess to computers connected to the Internet via Internet ServiceProviders (ISPs). Content providers (e.g., website owners or operators)place multimedia information (e.g., text, graphics, audio, video,animation, and other forms of data) at specific locations on theInternet referred to as webpages. Websites comprise a collection ofconnected, or otherwise related, webpages. The combination of all thewebsites and their corresponding webpages on the Internet is generallyknown as the World Wide Web (WWW) or simply the Web.

Prevalent on the Web are multimedia websites, some of which may offerand sell goods and services to individuals and organizations. Websitesmay consist of a single webpage, but typically consist of multipleinterconnected and related webpages. Menus and links may be used to movebetween different webpages within the website or to move to a differentwebsite as is known in the art. The interconnectivity of webpagesenabled by the Internet can make it difficult for Internet users to tellwhere one website ends and another begins. Websites may be created usingHyperText Markup Language (HTML) to generate a standard set of tags thatdefine how the webpages for the website are to be displayed. Suchwebsites may comprise a collection of HTML and subordinate documents(i.e., files) stored on the Web that are typically accessible from thesame Uniform Resource Locator (URL) and reside on the same server,although such files may be distributed in numerous servers.

Users of the Internet may access content providers' websites usingsoftware known as an Internet browser, such as MICROSOFT INTERNETEXPLORER or MOZILLA FIREFOX. After the browser has located the desiredwebpage, it requests and receives information from the webpage,typically in the form of an HTML document, and then displays the webpagecontent for the user. The user then may view other webpages at the samewebsite or move to an entirely different website using the browser.

Browsers are able to locate specific websites because each website,resource, and computer on the Internet has a unique Internet Protocol(IP) address. Presently, there are two standards for IP addresses. Theolder IP address standard, often called IP Version 4 (IPv4), is a 32-bitbinary number, which is typically shown in dotted decimal notation,where four 8-bit bytes are separated by a dot from each other (e.g.,64.202.167.32). The notation is used to improve human readability. Thenewer IP address standard, often called IP Version 6 (IPv6) or NextGeneration Internet Protocol (IPng), is a 128-bit binary number. Thestandard human readable notation for IPv6 addresses presents the addressas eight 16-bit hexadecimal words, each separated by a colon (e.g.,2EDC:BA98:0332:0000:CF8A:000C:2154:7313).

IP addresses, however, even in human readable notation, are difficultfor people to remember and use. A URL is much easier to remember and maybe used to point to any computer, directory, or file on the Internet. Abrowser is able to access a website on the Internet through the use of aURL. The URL may include a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) requestcombined with the website's Internet address, also known as thewebsite's domain. An example of a URL with a HTTP request and domain is:http://www.companyname.com. In this example, the “http” identifies theURL as a HTTP request and the “companyname.com” is the domain.

Websites, unless extremely large and complex or have unusual trafficdemands, typically reside on a single server and are prepared andmaintained by a single individual or entity. Some Internet users,typically those that are larger and more sophisticated, may providetheir own hardware, software, and connections to the Internet. But manyInternet users either do not have the resources available or do not wantto create and maintain the infrastructure necessary to host their ownwebsites. To assist such individuals (or entities), hosting companiesexist that offer website hosting services. These hosting serviceproviders typically provide the hardware, software, and electroniccommunication means necessary to connect multiple websites to theInternet. A single hosting service provider may literally host thousandsof websites on one or more hosting servers.

The domain name system (DNS) is the world's largest distributedcomputing system that enables access to any resource in the Internet bytranslating user-friendly domain names to IP Addresses. The process oftranslating domain names to IP Addresses is called Name Resolution. ADNS name resolution is the first step in the majority of Internettransactions. The DNS is in fact a client-server system that providesthis name resolution service through a family of servers called DomainName Servers. The hierarchical domain space is divided intoadministrative units called zones. A zone usually consists of a domain(e.g. example.com) and possibly one or more sub domains (e.g.projects.example.com, services.example.com). The authoritative dataneeded for performing the name resolution service is contained in a filecalled the zone file and the DNS servers hosting this file are calledthe authoritative name servers for that zone.

The DNS infrastructure consists of many different types of DNS servers,DNS clients, and transactions between these entities. The most importanttransaction in DNS is the one that provides the core service of DNS(i.e., name resolution service) and is called the DNS Query/Response. ADNS Query/Response transaction is made up of a query originating from aDNS client (generically called a DNS resolver) and response from a DNSname server. In this way, the DNS serves as a global, distributeddatabase. Name servers (serving zone files) each contain a small portionof the global domain space, and clients issue queries using a domainname.

WHOIS is a TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) basedtransaction-oriented query/response protocol that is used to provideinformation services to Internet users. While originally used to provide“white pages” services and information about registered domain names,current deployments cover a much broader range of information services.The protocol delivers its content in a human-readable format.

A WHOIS server listens for requests from WHOIS clients. The WHOIS clientmakes a text request to the WHOIS server, then the WHOIS server replieswith text content. The WHOIS server closes its connection as soon as theoutput is finished. The closed TCP connection is the indication to theclient that the response has been received.

WHOIS information may be stored and/or transmitted in the form of acontact object. For example, contact information for a registrant of adomain name may be stored in a registrant contact object. The registrantcontact object may be used to determine legal responsibility for domainname registrations. A contact object may comprise an XML document whichstores contact information in a series of fields/parameters identifiedby XML tags. Non-limiting examples of such fields/parameters/tags mayinclude: contact:id—used to identify a “handle” for the user/registrant;contact:name—used to identify the user/registrant; contact:voice—used toidentify a phone number for contacting the user/registrant;contact:fax—used to identify a fax number for contacting theuser/registrant; contact:email—used to identify an email address forcontacting the user/registrant; contact:postalInfo—a series offields/parameters/tags nested within the contact:postalInfo (and/orpossibly contact:addr) fields/parameters/tags including contact:street,contact:city, contact:pc (postal code) and contact:cc (country code)used to identify a physical address for the user/registrant;contact:org—used to identify a legal business entity with which theuser/registrant is affiliated. In some contact objects, legal entitiesmay be distinguished from private persons by the presence or absence ofcontact: org being nested within the contact:postalInfofield/parameter/tag (or existing anywhere else in the contact object).These examples are non-limiting. Any information used to identify ameans of contact for a user/registrant may be included in the contactobject for that user/registrant. As non-limiting examples, a contactobject may include contact information including an administrativecontact or a technical contact for the user/registrant.

The WHOIS protocol has no provisions for strong security. WHOIS lacksmechanisms for access control, integrity, and confidentiality.Accordingly, WHOIS-based services are used for information which isnon-sensitive and intended to be accessible to everyone. This may beexploited by unscrupulous Internet users who may register domain nameswhich infringe famous trademarks.

These users may copy the contact information from WHOIS informationassociated with a domain name/website which uses the legitimatetrademark, then list the legitimate contact information as the contactinformation in WHOIS information for a domain name/website thatinfringes the legitimate famous trademark, thereby “spoofing” thelegitimate trademark, domain name and/or website,

As a non-limiting example, a website creator may create a bogus website,found at the URL http://www.goodaddy.com, using the “goodaddy.com”domain name to “spoof” a legitimate website such ashttp://www.godaddy.com. In other words, this individual or group maycreate a website for the purposes of convincing e-commerce customersthat the goodaddy.com website is the legitimate website for GODADDY.COMgoods and services.

Although the terms of service for registering a domain name may requirevalid data, unscrupulous Internet users may attempt to add furtherlegitimacy to their bogus websites by copying contact information from avalid website into the WHOIS information and/or contact object,inserting that information into the WHOIS information and/or contactobject for the domain name associated with the bogus website, thenchanging only a few of the parameters, such as an email address or a faxnumber. Consequently, the response received from a WHOIS informationrequest may appear to be legitimate, but may in fact belong to theunscrupulous Internet users spoofing a legitimate website.

Currently, the contact information that a domain name registrant entersinto WHOIS information is unsupervised and unregulated. This means thatanyone can assign any domain name to a new or existing registrantcontact without prior approval, permission or even knowledge of thecontact. This also means that the contact may be unaware that they areresponsible for online conduct associated with the domain name.

A similar problem exists with contact information associated with nameservers. When registering a domain name, a user may be required to entera primary and secondary name server used to resolve the domain name.Like WHOIS information, the information entered by a user for theprimary or secondary name servers is unsupervised and unregulated. Inthis case, unscrupulous users may falsify the name server information,while other users may be unfamiliar with primary and secondary nameservers, so may enter inaccurate information.

As a non-limiting example, a user may enter example.net as their primaryname server, but may be unsure of the correct secondary name server, somay enter secondary.net simply to complete the registration process.Doing so may cause a website/server where the actual secondary.netdomain name resolves to get overwhelmed by Internet traffic. It istherefore in all users' best interests to be sure that the informationfor the primary and secondary name servers are capable of beingvalidated.

The sheer volume of websites, domain names and Internet traffic makes itimpossible for domain name registrars to monitor and validate all WHOIS,contact objects and/or name servers in real time. Applicant hastherefore determined that presently-existing systems and methods do notprovide optimal means for monitoring, detecting and alerting a domainname owner if the WHOIS, contact object, name servers and/or otherregistrant information is inaccurate and if any websites related to thespoofed domain names is being exploited.

Numerous methods may be used with the systems described below. As anon-limiting example, the method illustrated in FIG. 1 (and all methodsdescribed herein) may be performed by (at least) any central processingunit (CPU) in one or more computing devices or systems, such as amicroprocessor running on a server communicatively coupled to a network(e.g., the Internet) and executing instructions stored (perhaps asscripts and/or software) in computer-readable media accessible to theCPU, such as a hard disk drive or solid-state memory on a server.Example systems that may be used to perform the methods described hereinare illustrated in FIGS. 3-4 and described in detail below.

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a method of validating a user'scontrol over contact information that may comprise at least one servercomputer receiving contact information for a user (Step 100) anddetermining whether the contact information for the user is valid (Step110). If the contact information for the user is determined to be valid(Step 110), the server(s) may store the contact information in aregistered contacts database (Step 120), monitor a plurality of recordupdates in a domain name registration database for the contactinformation (Step 130) and determine whether the contact informationappears in the record updates (Step 140). If the contact information isdetermined to appear in the record updates (Step 140), the server(s) maynotify the user that the contact information appears in the recordupdates (Step 150). The server(s), registered contacts database anddomain name registration database may all be communicatively coupled toa network.

As a non-limiting example, Steps 100-150 may be accomplished by at leastone server computer, which may be configured to receive the user contactinformation (Step 100), determine if the contact information is valid(Step 110), store the contact information in a registered contactsdatabase (Step 120), monitor a domain name registration database forupdates which include the contact information (Step 130), determinewhether the updates include the contact information (Step 140) andnotify the user that the contact information appears in the recordupdates (Step 150). Alternatively, Steps 100-150 may be accomplished byany software, scripts, or code, perhaps running on the server(s).

As another non-limiting example, Step 120 may be accomplished by aregistered contacts database running on at least one server by receivingand storing the contact information from a client computer or from oneor more server computers.

In various embodiments, in addition to running the registered contactsdatabase, the server(s) may also host a registrar website configured toregister one or more domain names to one or more registrants. The domainname may be registered to the registrant by any means known in the art,including, but not limited to, searching for an available domain nameusing one or more control panels on a registrar website, selecting anavailable domain name and registering the domain name according to knowndomain name registration practices.

The server(s) may also host one or more control panels, the instructionsfor which may be transmitted to, and displayed, possibly via an Internetbrowser, on each of one or more client computers communicatively coupledto the network. Various combinations of these control panels may beutilized by the user/registrant to register a domain name, add contactinformation to the WHOIS information and/or contact object, purchase the“registered contacts” service as described herein and/or accomplish anyother method steps disclosed herein.

One or more of the control panels displayed on the client(s) may receivecontact information for a user/registrant. The contact information mayinclude any of the contact object fields/parameters/tags disclosedherein. Specifically, the contact information may include anycombination of a name, an address, a phone number, a fax number, anemail address, an administrative contact, a technical contact, nameserver information and any other contact information for theuser/registrant. The server(s) may then receive the contact informationfor the user/registrant (Step 100), possibly via an electronictransmission from the client.

In embodiments where the user/registrant has selected an option from theone or more control panels to purchase a registered contacts serviceand/or create a registered contact, the server(s) may determine whetherthe received contact information for the user is valid (Step 110). Ifthe received contact information is not valid, the process may end.

The step of determining whether the contact information for the user isvalid may be accomplished by determining whether the user/registrant hascontrol over the contact information, and verifying theuser/registrant's control over the contact information. This may beaccomplished by various means according to one or more methods ofcontact.

The user/registrant may demonstrate control over the contact informationby submitting documentation which verifies the identity of theindividual or entity which registered the domain name, and which couldnot be produced by a registrant of a bogus domain name and/or website.As non-limiting examples, a legitimate user/registrant could submitdocuments such as a copy of: a business license, documentation verifyinga registered trademark, phone records, fax transmission receipts, atitle to or lease agreement for a property at a particular address, adriver's license, documentation demonstrating control of a primaryand/or secondary name server, etc. In some embodiments, copies of thisdocumentation may be uploaded as electronic documents or images via theone or more control panels.

As another non-limiting example, after receiving a request from theuser/registrant for the registered contacts service, the server(s) maygenerate a code which requires a response from the registrant. This codemay be delivered either physically or electronically (e.g. via thepostal address, email address, telephone number, fax number etc.provided by the user/registrant and included in the provided contactinformation) and responded to by the user/registrant. In theseembodiments, once the registrant has responded with the code, therebyverifying that they have control of the contact information, the contactinformation may be considered a registered contact.

The step of verifying the user/registrant's control over contactinformation may also be accomplished by determining whether the contactinformation matches a third party record for the user/registrant. As anon-limiting example, if a third party maintained records of thedocumentation disclosed above which verifies the identity of theindividual or entity which registered the domain name (e.g. a hostingprovider maintaining records that a particular name server is controlledby a particular individual/business entity), these records could be usedto verify that a user/registrant has control over the contactinformation.

In various embodiments, if the registered domain name is the firstdomain name registered by the registrant, one of the control panels maybe automatically displayed to offer the registered contacts service tothe user/registrant. Such a control panel may also be displayed any timeduring or after a registrant has registered their first domain name.

Once the validity of the contact information for the user/registrant hasbeen confirmed (Step 110), the server(s) may store the contactinformation (the “registered contact”) in a registered contacts database(Step 120). The registered contact may be stored in association with aparticular user/registrant. If one or more registered contacts alreadyexist in the registered contacts database for the user/registrant, theregistered contact to be added may be associated in the registeredcontacts database with similarly guarded identities, as long as theregistered contact to be added has been verified. Put another way, theserver(s) may compile the registered contacts for a user/registrant togenerate an object containing all of the registered contacts for auser/registrant. This object may be analogous to a contact object and/orregistrant contact object.

The server(s) may monitor updates to any of a plurality of records in adomain name registration database (Step 130). The domain nameregistration database may be, as a non-limiting example, a WHOISdatabase containing a plurality of WHOIS, contact object and/or othercontact records. Each of the plurality of records, in turn, may containWHOIS and/or other contact information for each of a plurality of domainname registrants.

The plurality of records may be monitored for updates which include thecontact information stored in the registered contacts database (Step130). In various embodiments, these record updates may include recordupdates caused by a domain name registration, a domain name transfer, arecord modification or any other update capable of changing and/ortaking advantage of the contact information in the domain nameregistration database.

The server(s) may determine whether the contact information is found inany of the updates made to the plurality of records in the domain nameregistration database (Step 140). In other words, if a domain name isregistered, transferred or modified, and/or any other updates are madeto the information in the plurality of records in the domain nameregistration database such as changes to domain name information, WHOISinformation, name server information and/or one or more contact objects,the server(s) may determine if the information, such as contactinformation, matches any of the registered contacts associated with auser/registrant and stored in the registered contacts database (Step140).

To make the determination of such a match, the server(s) may compare theregistered contact for each user/registrant with the contact informationbeing updated in the domain name registration database. If the server(s)find an exact match or a match with a high degree of similarity (e.g.only 1 registered contact not in common with the contact information),this would count as a “match” or a “hit.”

If the server(s) determine that the records being updated in the domainnames registration database include a match or a hit with the registeredcontact information for the user/registrant which created the registeredcontact, then this user/registrant may be notified of the update (Step150). The notification received by the user/registrant may includeinformation identifying the domain name that caused the match or hit.Using this and other information, the user/registrant may then becomeaware that another entity is trying to spoof their domain name and/orwebsite (or other illegitimate online conduct), and can recognize andtake action on any legal or other responsibility to, for example, reportthe unethical conduct.

FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of a method of validating a user'scontrol over contact information that may comprise at least one servercomputer receiving a request to register a domain name to a prospectiveregistrant (Step 200) and determining whether a prospective registrantcontact information, included with the request, matches a contactinformation for a user stored in a registered contacts database anddetermined to be valid (Step 210). If the prospective registrant contactinformation is determined to match the contact information for the userstored in the registered contacts database, the server computer(s) maynotify the user that the prospective registrant contact informationmatches the contact information for the user stored in the registeredcontacts database (Step 150) or decline to register the domain name tothe prospective registrant (step 220). The server computer(s) andregistered contacts database may be communicatively coupled to anetwork.

As a non-limiting example, Steps 200-220 (including step 150) may beaccomplished by at least one server computer, which may be configured toreceive a domain name registration request (Step 200), determine whetherthe contact information included in the domain registration request isin the registered contacts database (Step 210), notify the user that theregistrant contact information is in the registered contacts database(Step 150) and/or decline domain name registration (Step 220)Alternatively, Steps 200-220 (including step 150) may be accomplished byany software, scripts, or code, perhaps running on the server.

As another non-limiting example, Step 210 may be accomplished by theregistered contacts database running on the server by receiving adatabase query from the server and determining if the registered contactinformation is in the registered contacts database.

In various embodiments, the request to register the domain name to theprospective registrant, as well as contact information for theprospective registrant, may be received (Step 200) via the previouslydisclosed registrar website, possibly via one or more of the previouslydisclosed one or more control panels displayed on a client computer.

Upon receiving the request to register a domain name to a prospectiveregistrant (Step 200), the server(s) may determine whether the receivedprospective registrant contact information matches contact informationfor a user/registrant stored in the registered contacts database (Step210) and determined to be valid. In these example embodiments, thecontact information stored in the registered contacts database hasalready been determined to be valid according to any steps of validatingcontacts in the registered database disclosed herein. A match or hitbetween the received prospective registrant contact information and thecontact information for the user/registrant stored in the registeredcontact database may be determined according to any steps of determininga match or hit disclosed herein.

If the prospective registrant contact information is determined to matchthe contact information for the user/registrant stored in the registeredcontacts database (Step 210), the servers(s) may be configured to notifythe user/registrant which originally entered the registered contact(s)of the request to register the domain name (Step 150) according to anysteps of notifying the user/registrant of a match or hit disclosedherein. The notification may also include the domain name which causedthe hit and may inform the user/registrant that the prospectiveregistrant contact information matches the contact information for theuser/registrant stored in the registered contacts database.

In an alternate embodiment, the server(s) and/or the registrar websitemay be configured to decline the domain name registration (Step 220) bycancelling the transaction which created the hit. In other words, if theprospective registrant contact information included in a domain namerequest matches contact information stored in the registered contactsdatabase, the server and/or registrant website may be configured tocancel the transaction to register the domain name requested by theprospective registrant.

FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of a system for validating a user'scontrol over contact information that may comprise one or more server(s)300 communicatively coupled to a network 340 running a registeredcontacts database 350 and a domain name registration database 370.

The one or more servers 300 may be configured to receive contactinformation for a user (Step 100) and determine whether the contactinformation for the user is valid (Step 110). If the contact informationfor the user is determined to be valid (Step 110), the servercomputer(s) 300 may further store the validated contact information 360in a registered contacts database 350 (Step 120), monitor a plurality ofrecord updates 380 in a domain name registration database 370 for thecontact information (Step 130) and determine whether the validatedcontact information 360 appears in the record updates 380 (Step 140). Ifthe validated contact information 360 is determined to appear in therecord updates 380 (Step 140), the server computer(s) 300 may notify theuser that the validated contact information 360 appears in the recordupdates 380 (Step 150). The server(s) 300 may accomplish these methodsteps according to any of the detailed disclosures of the method stepsherein.

The example embodiments illustrated herein place no limitation onnetwork 340 configuration or connectivity. Thus, as non-limitingexamples, the network 340 could comprise the Internet, the publicswitched telephone network, the global Telex network, computer networks(e.g., an intranet, an extranet, a local-area network, or a wide-areanetwork), wired networks, wireless networks, or any combination thereof.

System components may be communicatively coupled to the network 340 viaany method of network connection known in the art or developed in thefuture including, but not limited to wired, wireless, modem, dial-up,satellite, cable modem, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), AsymmetricDigital Subscribers Line (ASDL), Virtual Private Network (VPN),Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), X.25, Ethernet, token ring,Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI), IP over Asynchronous TransferMode (ATM), Infrared Data Association (IrDA), wireless, WAN technologies(T1, Frame Relay), Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet (PPPoE), and/orany combination thereof.

Server(s) 300 (and/or any other server described herein) may compriseany computer or program that provides services to other computers,programs, or users either in the same computer or over a computernetwork 340. As non-limiting examples, the one of more servers 300 couldbe application, communication, mail, database, proxy, fax, file, media,web, peer-to-peer, standalone, software, or hardware servers (i.e.,server computers) and may use any server format known in the art ordeveloped in the future (possibly a shared hosting server, a virtualdedicated hosting server, a dedicated hosting server, or any combinationthereof).

Server(s) 300 may comprise a computer-readable storage media 310 storinginstructions 320 that, when executed by a microprocessor 330, cause theserver 300 to perform the steps for which it is configured. Suchcomputer-readable media 310 may comprise any data storage medium capableof storing instructions 320 for execution by a computing device. It maycomprise, as non-limiting examples, magnetic, optical, semiconductor,paper, or any other data storage media, a database 350, 370 or othernetwork storage device, hard disk drives, portable disks, CD-ROM, DVD,RAM, ROM, flash memory, and/or holographic data storage. Theinstructions 320 may, as non-limiting examples, comprise software and/orscripts stored in the computer-readable media 310 that may be storedlocally in the server 300 or, alternatively, in a highly-distributedformat in a plurality of computer-readable media 310 accessible via thenetwork 340, perhaps via a grid or cloud-computing environment.

Such instructions 320 may be implemented in the form of softwaremodules. Each module described herein may comprise a self-containedsoftware component that may interact with the larger system and/or othermodules. A module may comprise an individual (or plurality of) file(s)and may execute a specific task within a larger software and/or hardwaresystem. As a non-limiting example, a module may comprise any softwareand/or scripts running on one or more servers 300 containinginstructions 320 (perhaps stored in computer-readable media 310accessible by the server computer's 300 computer processor 330) that,when executed by the computer processor 330, cause the server computer300 to perform the steps for which it is configured.

The registered contacts database 350, the domain name registrationdatabase 370 and/or any other database described herein may comprise alocal database, online database, desktop database, server-side database,relational database, hierarchical database, network database, objectdatabase, object-relational database, associative database,concept-oriented database, entity-attribute-value database,multi-dimensional database, semi-structured database, star schemadatabase, XML database, file, collection of files, spreadsheet, or othermeans of data storage located on a computer, client, server, or anyother storage device known in the art or developed in the future. Insome embodiments, the domain name registration database may comprise aWHOIS database.

FIG. 3 also illustrates an embodiment of a system for validating auser's control over contact information wherein the server(s) 300 may beconfigured to receive a request to register a domain name to aprospective registrant (Step 200) and determine whether a prospectiveregistrant contact information, included with the request, matches acontact information 360 for a user stored in a registered contactsdatabase 350 and determined to be valid (Step 210). If the prospectiveregistrant contact information is determined to match the contactinformation 360 for the user stored in the registered contacts database350 (Step 210), the server computer(s) 300 may notify the user that theprospective registrant contact information matches the contactinformation 360 for said user stored in said registered contactsdatabase 350 (Step 150) or decline to register the domain name to theprospective registrant (Step 220). The server computer(s) 300 andregistered contacts database 350 may all be communicatively coupled tothe network 340. The server(s) 300 may accomplish these method stepsaccording to any of the detailed disclosures of the method steps herein.

FIG. 4 illustrates an alternate, consolidated embodiment of a system forvalidating a user's control over contact information wherein a singleserver 300 comprises the computer readable media 310, instructions 320microprocessor 330, registered contacts database 350 and domain nameregistration database 370. In a non-limiting example embodiment, theserver(s) 300 may be a server or cluster of servers controlled by adomain name registrar. In such a consolidated environment the registrarmay controls all elements of the system, including the disclosedregistrar website (not shown). Because of this, the registrant may havecomplete access to the domain names that it registers and any associatedWHOIS data, thereby allowing the single registrar to compare thevalidated contact information 360 stored within the registered contactsdatabase within its server(s) 300 with the record updates 380 stored inthe domain name registration database 370 also within its own servers,thereby providing a simpler and more efficient environment.

In other embodiments, such as that illustrated in FIG. 3, the server(s)300, registered contacts database 350 and domain name registrationdatabase 370 may exist in a highly distributed environment. In such anenvironment, a consortium of registrars may exist which share WHOISand/or contact object information and domain name data so that allregistration information such as contact information and subscriptioninformation may be cross checked against other registrars. In such anenvironment, a central repository of information may exist which each ofthe registrars may call into, thereby making all information availableto all registrars within the consortium.

Other embodiments and uses of the above inventions will be apparent tothose having ordinary skill in the art upon consideration of thespecification and practice of the inventions disclosed herein. Thespecification and examples given should be considered exemplary only,and it is contemplated that the appended claims will cover any othersuch embodiments or modifications as fall within the true scope of theinventions.

The Abstract accompanying this specification is provided to enable theUnited States Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally todetermine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and gist of thetechnical disclosure and in no way intended for defining, determining,or limiting the present inventions or any of its embodiments.

The inventions claimed are:
 1. A method, comprising: receiving, by atleast one server computer communicatively coupled to a network, arequest to register a domain name to a prospective registrant, saidrequest comprising a prospective registrant contact information;determining, by said at least one server computer, whether saidprospective registrant is a previously-registered user by: accessing aregistered contacts database, and determining whether said prospectiveregistrant contact information matches a contact information for a userstored in the registered contacts database, wherein said contactinformation has been determined to be valid; upon determination thatsaid prospective registrant is a previously-registered user in theregistered contacts database, transmitting, by said at least one servercomputer, a notification to the user stored in the registered contactsdatabase that said prospective registrant contact information matchessaid contact information for said user stored in said registeredcontacts database, the notification including the domain name; and upondetermination that said prospective registrant contact information doesnot match said contact information for said user stored in saidregistered contacts database, then declining, by said at least oneserver computer, to register said domain name to said prospectiveregistrant.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein said prospectiveregistrant contact information comprises a name, an address, a phonenumber, a fax number, an email address, an administrative contact, or atechnical contact for said user.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein saidcontact information for a user stored in a registered contacts databasecomprises a name, an address, a phone number, a fax number, an emailaddress, an administrative contact, or a technical contact for saiduser.
 4. The method of claim 1, including determining whether saidcontact information for said user is valid by determining whether saiduser has control over said contact information.
 5. The method of claim1, including determining whether said contact information for said useris valid by determining whether said contact information matches a thirdparty record for said user.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein saidregistered contacts database comprises a WHOIS database.
 7. The methodof claim 1, including, upon determination that said prospectiveregistrant contact information matches said contact information for saiduser stored in said registered contacts database, storing saidprospective registrant contact information in the registered contactsdatabase.
 8. The method of claim 1, including, upon determination thatsaid prospective registrant contact information matches, registering thedomain name to the prospective registrant.
 9. A system, comprising: aregistered contacts database running on one or more server computerscommunicatively coupled to a network, said registered contacts databasestoring a plurality of contact information for a plurality of users,wherein each of said plurality of contact information has beendetermined to be valid; and a server computer communicatively coupled tosaid network configured to: receive a request to register a domain nameto a prospective registrant, said request comprising a prospectiveregistrant contact information; determine whether said prospectiveregistrant is a previously-registered user by: accessing the registeredcontacts database, and determining whether said prospective registrantcontact information matches one or more of said plurality of contactinformation for a plurality of users in the registered contactsdatabase; upon determination that said prospective registrant is apreviously-registered user in the registered contacts database,transmitting a notification to at least one of the plurality of usersstored in the registered contacts database that said prospectiveregistrant contact information matches one or more of said plurality ofcontact information for a plurality of users, the notification includingthe domain name; and upon determination that said prospective registrantcontact information does not match one or more of said plurality ofcontact information for the plurality of users, then decline to registersaid domain name to said prospective registrant.
 10. The system of claim9, wherein said prospective registrant contact information comprises aname, an address, a phone number, a fax number, an email address, anadministrative contact, or a technical contact for said user.
 11. Thesystem of claim 9, wherein said contact information for a user stored ina registered contacts database comprises a name, an address, a phonenumber, a fax number, an email address, an administrative contact, or atechnical contact for said user.